A well respected provider of content, with more than a century of success, but also an organization looking for ways to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world – that could describe Cooperative Extension, but it also describes the New York Times. The recently released “New York Times Innovation Report” provides a fascinating self-analysis of a premier news organization trying to keep up with change – and perhaps it also provides important clues to what Extension needs to consider as it tries to sustain its relevancy.

The New York Times, the third largest newspaper in the U.S., has experienced a decline in subscriber numbers in recent years – a common trend in print media. While it continues to provide great journalism, it’s losing readers. Meanwhile, other news organizations are more aggressively embracing the digital age and remaking themselves to more directly respond to consumers’ preferences for a digital delivery. Given this environment, the New York Times recently committed ten of their most forward thinking staff to a six-month study of the paper’s operations, both print and digital, and to a careful look at their competition. The conclusion was that the paper must continue producing quality content – but that content is not enough. It must also pursue new strategies for growing its audience, and that requires a new “digital first” philosophy.

Is this relevant to Extension? I think so.

Cooperative Extension has taken great pride in the high quality of its research-based content, and its close relationship with its core audience. But University Extension is no longer the only reputable source of information in many of the knowledge areas it’s been well known for, and most people have more frequent interaction with Google, YouTube and Wikipedia than they do with Extension.

Yes, Extension does offer a digital presence, and some Extension professionals do maintain bright, engaging websites. But that’s not the norm. And where is Extension’s mobile footprint? Is the Extension YouTube and Instagram presence sufficient to satisfy a public who now sees video as their constant companion – the place to find both entertainment and education?

Simply put, is Extension providing its excellent content to users in ways that they expect to find knowledge in 2014? And is Extension positioning itself to still be relevant in 2024? Is the classic retail style, person-to-person model of Extension education still affordable? Can it meet the public’s expectation for services?

Readership on the New York Times website has shrunk, while sites like the Huffington Post and Flipboard often get more traffic reading New York Times journalism than does the Times’ own website. In an environment where digital media is exploding with innovative formats and willing investors, it’s not enough to generate world-class journalism and put it on the web. The Times Innovation Report concluded that the “digital first” strategy was contributing to the growth of the The Guardian and USA Today, and noted that both the Washington Post (now owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon) and the Wall Street Journal are both moving to remake themselves for the digital age. “The realities of a cluttered internet and distracted mobile world require extra effort to get journalism to our readers.”

Is Extension putting extra effort into its digital presence? Not nearly enough.

What might a serious commitment to a digital-first approach look like in Extension? Extension professionals would have a much more visible presence in user forums, on social media, in real-time digital relationships, and especially with online video. There would be careful attention to timely updating of websites, and continuous production of new material for digital consumption. Experimentation with new forms of media would be on-going. Audience development becomes a high priority goal for all Extension professionals – and all Extension Educators and Specialists would be active participants in this digital activity, not just IT professionals.

What would Extension hope to accomplish through a digital makeover? It would expect to expand its audience, multiply the distribution of its content, create a greater public awareness of Extension and its value, and begin to position itself as a relevant and useful source for future generations who will be expecting digital delivery of just about everything.

This approach isn’t intended to immediately produce life changing transformative impact, but it makes it easier to attract users to a deeper look at our content, and allow for easy sharing of that content via user-to-user. Can you learn nutrition in a 15 second Instagram video? Probably not in a single video, but a well-developed series might be very instructive. Bart’s Fish Tales is an example of what’s possible. If you’re not on Instagram, you can also view the series on Facebook.

There are lots of arguments to be made against this proposition:

Broadband access is limited,

not everyone has a computer or mobile device,

there is no substitute for face-to-face trust-based relationships,

digital approaches are inadequate for leadership development and civic engagement,

the effectiveness cannot be evaluated, and

the impact cannot be measured.

You can make your own list of reasons why this is a faulty future for Extension. Meanwhile, enormous investments of intellectual and financial resources are pouring into the constant development of the digital landscape and marketplace, and the public has an unquenchable thirst for more.

Broadband access will eventually become ubiquitous and affordable. The public and the marketplace will demand it. The spread of mobile devices is so rapid that citing statistics doesn’t tell the story – it’s constantly growing and it’s global. Face-to-face via digital devices is becoming commonplace among friends, families, and colleagues. It’s easy to argue that digital devices have expanded and strengthened relationships rather than limited them. Mobilizing civic action through social media has been more rapid and more extensive than any individual organizers on the ground could hope to achieve via one-on-one grassroots work.

To ignore the public’s appetite for all things digital, to continue to rely on “tried and true” educational practices, to discount the different ways future consumers (millennials and subsequent generations) will be expecting to get information and to expect Extension budgets to remain stable – that’s not preparing for the future. Extension needs to make a sharp turn towards digital, and accelerate. Look forward – not backward.

Opinions presented on the Extension Reconsidered blog belong to the authors. Contact Jen Jensen (jkj37[at]cornell.edu) to contribute, or comment here to share your thoughts. Follow @extrecon on Twitter for blog updates or read more about the Extension Reconsidered initiative at our website.

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Comments

Thanks for writing this post. We, as Extension professionals, need to pursue digital means of reaching our clientele. However, we have issues, some of which you outline. I would argue that Extension needs to invest partnerships with companies outside of academia that specialize in this arena. Extension needs to develop metrics that make sense for evaluating effectiveness and impact. The numbers exist — we just need to make sense of them.

We have to think about our learning and creating programming different. If we approach social media in a broadcast mode, we will lose the content game,

Also we are a dwindling organization. So how do we “scale” ourselves? Becoming part of already existing online communities who are talking about the same things. Extension has to become “strong ties” in some communities to make a difference. That takes time and a different mindset. Like Eric said, we have to engage with people and organizations that we have been scared to work with.

While I understand that we can’t alienate the clients we have in the rural areas that have limited access, that limitation CANNOT be an excuse to change the way we work.

47% of rural US population accessing the Internet via cell phones. 62% of rural population have broadband at home. 70% have one or the other. …These numbers should not be ignored.

Age is factor in accessing the Internet. 43% of the 65+ of the U. S. population have broadband and 46% have cell phones. Moving to the rural areas these numbers decrease.

We need to make decisions that position us well for the future–holding back on changing is the most risky than we can do.

The policy question for Cooperative Extension is how we use technology to engage minority and low to income audiences in order to help them create a path to the attainment of a college degree (associates and bachelor’s degrees) which is critical in helping them connect this knowledge to the growing global economy. All hands must be involved if the US is going to maintain its place in the global economy.

I agree whole heartedly with the closing statement “Extension needs to make a sharp turn towards digital, and accelerate. Look forward – not backward.”

Limitations with digital access means that we cannot cover our entire user base now but we can develop digital presence in those areas where it is available so that as the user base gets access we have program ready to roll out. Its not either/or – but rather both/and. Face-Face program will not go away but can add vitality and synergy to our digital programming.

Recent statistics reveal that the Forest County, Wisconsin population is decreasing. Many elderly are passing on and our youth leave for lack of employment opportunities once graduating high school and Forest County ranks number 68 out of 72 counties in revenue generation. This phenomenon is exactly why history, traditions and culture of the local area on their way to extinction. There needs to be a good balance between computer technology and actual face-to-face “hands-on” inter-personal character building and mentoring of our youth before they become “totally” dependent on the digital world. Human privacy is currently being invaded by entities such as Facebook which uses a tactic of “subliminal” data gathering. Facebook members feel deeply attached to this digital community if for no other reason; but to gain, and maintain “self-esteem”. The digital world is an individual experience. Everyone today seem to have their heads buried in their cell phones; communitication in amazing technological ways. The human interaction experience and character building by such groups as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club and 4-H youth programs as an example, are not about digital communications; thus the attraction to these types of social enterprises may eventually suffer. Just a thought?

Thanks for this post. It correctly points out how critical it is for us as Educators to continue speaking the language of our audiences, and delivering our materials through methods that will be effective. Learning how to develop online content is critical.

I would argue, though, that Extension also needs to help bridge the digital divide that exists. There are millions of people across the country who are cut off from the wealth of resources offered by the Internet because they are either too poor to afford access (either through owning a device or being able to pay for a subscription) or because they live in a rural area to which broadband does not extend. We could develop the best online content in the world…but it’s all pointless if our audiences can’t access it. We need to develop our online content, but we need to do it in such a way that it reaches the elderly person in the inner city, or the kid who lives in an agricultural community. Does that mean we find ways to loan equipment to people who can’t afford it? Or figure out ways to work with community stakeholders to improve broadband networks? I think yes.

The New York Times offers their service to those who can pay for it. We are different in that we are obligated by our mission to find ways to make our services accessible to EVERYONE in the state. That means bridging the digital gap at the same time that we create excellent content to send across the bridge.

Excellent thinking. I’d suggest this become a Journal of Extension article…a commentary…this is very pertinent to the conversation happening now in eXtension and as we look forward toward our next 100 years. Thanks for your insight.

Well written, and well thought out.
It certainly give one something to think about.

I would echo what several others have already posted, and especially Mr. Tim Brown.
We need to always be cognizant that we in Extension are responsible to providing access to the entire public, not just those who have the financial means or live in more populated areas with greater levels of broadband access. We also need to be very aware that many of the people who are currently responsible for determining local funding match to county offices (county board members, administrators, etc.) may not be digital, or live in an area with digital access.

This brings up a couple of fundamental questions:
1) Have we (Extension) surveyed our key stakeholders, shareholders (county board members, administrators, etc.) to see how THEY would like Extension information, now and in the future?

2) Are we confident that a strong push to more and more digital will in fact strengthen Extension?

Currently, digital service providers are more interested in increasing the broadband speeds of populated areas (2.5 increases to 3G, 3G increases to 4G, 4G increases to 4GLTE, etc.) than providing greater access to more rural areas. Bottom line, the digital provider business model does not include connecting all people in all areas with fiber. As a society, we have become dependent and addicted to digital media, and the service providers feed those who have the means to pay.

Extension will never be able to compete in the information superhighway on the same levels of the Huffington Post, the New York Times, or those types of online media outlets.

I would argue, we shouldn’t.

Extension and the land grant universities that house Extension are not driven by the number of web hits, clickable advertisements or the volume of sales from affiliate pages.

Extension is based on core foundations of knowledge: unbiased science and university research. This is a huge strength and should not be discounted.

Always remember that for the Huffington Post, New York Times, and other types of digital and non-digital media, their primary function is to create advertisement revenue. Their mission is, and will always be, fundamentally different than that of Extension.

Ultimately, Extension is also built on the foundation of local relationships and trust. Perhaps the fundamental strength of Extension throughout time has been for local and county educators to engage citizens and stakeholders, and “meet them where they are at.” This is not exclusive to a geographical location. Extension educators provide our citizens the knowledge and access to university research, thereby allowing them to discover their own solutions.

We need to become more digitally accessible but not at the expense of local relationships, and our mission of outreach. It must be a both/and in terms of digital access. One could easily see a push toward more and more digital content as discriminatory. Part of our history as Extension has been to help remove barriers to success, and create greater access. We are very intentional to ensure that our local programming is held in ADA compliant locations. Information and outreach is no different. I fear that a large push towards greater digital presence will be at the expense of local access and relationships.

Looking forward to the future of Extension, and the methods Extension deploys in reaching shareholders, stakeholders, and the public at large, we need to stop and think about how we are relevant to those who value Extension. We also need to think about how we are communicating, and what we are communicating to ALL of those we come in contact with.

Extension has and will always be built around relationships and trust.
Perhaps that needs to be at the forefront as we move further into the digital divide.

While Extension has a different mission than the New York Times and other content providers, the comparison is appropriate because we both need the eyeballs of users/readers/clients to consume (and utilize) our content – face-to-face and especially online. It’s eyeballs that determine relevancy and attract funding in the private as well as public sector.

A digital makover for Extension is critical…and it starts with hiring a new generation of professionals who think and act digitally. We need people who won’t make excuses about using technology; people who will seek and adapt new technologies to work smarter, not harder.

While not everyone is connected, we all will be in the near future. ‘Connected’ is where we’re all headed and if we don’t “skate to where the puck will be” then we’ll continue to see Extension shrink into obscurity.